A playful steamed green tea from Japan. Kukicha is a blend of leaves and leaf stems. The lightness of the stems becomes a sweet sesame seed or chestnut note. Tender like soft white rice. Balanced and, for a Japanese tea, very low in astringency.
Customers use these reviews to describe their experience with Kukicha, including flavor, aroma, preparation preferences, strength, and how the tea fits into daily routines. Browse the full review history page by page to compare tasting notes, steeping tips, and favorite ways to enjoy this tea.
This is like the chicken broth of tea. It actually smells like chicken broth, and has a grass/hay finish. I can absolutely see how it could be useful in blends (especially since it does have a comforting taste) or even paired with the right foods, but it is not my thing. I will play around with blending it with other teas and see what happens.
Always one of my favorite 'go-to' Japenese teas. Nice flavor and rich green color
It's like a cross between a good sencha and houjicha. I like it, but it isn't striking and it doesn't add variety to my tea cupboard so I won't be keeping it on hand.
The smell of this tea is really and truly awful. The only thing worse is the taste.
Certainly an aquired taste. Gave the sample of this a try. While it was enjoyable, I do feel it is too grassy for my personal taste.
much different. tastes kind of like straw but for some reason I really like it
I bought this for my husband, and he has declared it his new favorite green tea. He loves the grassy taste, and enjoyed exchanging in tea bags for loose leaf. He does like his stronger, though, so he brews it a little longer and often only gets one steeping out of it. That's his personal preference, though.
Very strong, easy to overpower the palate. Steep quickly like 1-2 minutes around 170.
Very rich umami flavor but a bit oily and not quite as fresh and grassy as other kukichas I've tried. Still very good and might be improved by cutting back on the recommended amount of tea per cup.
It worked for iced tea. Not my favorite, but ok in betweet
Kukicha is my go-to tea in the morning. Its mild but from what I've read, packs a lot of healthful benefits.
My mom's favorite. She loves a real, traditional green tea.
This tea isn't bad, it just doesn't seem to have any distinct personality. It is an inoffensive light green tea. Glad I got a sample instead of a whole bag because it just seems unremarkable.
I like this tea, especially for the price. I think it tastes like a more woody version of the sencha overture. By the way, if you don't like small tea particles in your cup, be sure to use a fine filter. I don't mind it too much, but this one does leave a lot of sediment.
This tea has a definite lemon flavor and is a bit weak. Overall, it has a good flavor, but I prefer leaves vs. stems and this tea contains mostly stems.
Not my favorite green. It doesn't have the smooth taste that I enjoy in a green tea.
I really liked this one, but I thought it was a bit weak. I didn't use as much tea as was suggested, though, so I'm going to go ahead and rate it a 5, and try to use more next time.
Finally got around to a second cup of this one. I used a heaping teaspoon this time and it had a LOT more flavour. But I'd suggest being careful too, since I left the leaves(stems?) in about a minute too long and it seemed like it was trying to start getting bitter. Still a good tea, though!
Last bit on this(most likely) I was having a bit of a hard time with my earl grey green, since I don't have a problem with the flavours, but even the green was too strong for me. I mixed a half teaspoon of the earl grey green with a heaping half of this one and it is GREAT! It mutes the earl grey enough that I am enjoying it, and it doesn't have a weird flavour like I'm sure it would if I'd mixed a tea that was nowhere close to the base of the earl grey with it.
This one was fairly grassy. Not my favorite of the greens.
I found this to be a basic green tea. Good enough to finish what I bought but I like others more so may not purchase again. A clean grassy flavor. UPDATE: THIS basic green has morphed into my favorite. I found that reducing water temp and steeping time resulted in a nearly bitter free brew as compared to when I first tried it. It is a combination of tea leaves and stems so it also contains less caffeine, good for a caffeine sensitive person such as myself. I also love the smell of this tea...in the bag and in the cup.
Oh, this is beautiful. It's got a wonderful smoothness, with a dry aroma of sweet and nutty grass, that gives way slightly to a brewed fragrance reminiscent of steamed vegetables and freshly-mown lawn. This probably doesn't sound as delicious as it is. It's got a lovely gentle sweetness and has a smooth, very soft mouthfeel. A quintessentially green tea in the best possible way, really.
Purchased this for a friend who loves green tea. He absolutely loved it!
This is my third fave behind Sencha and Jasmine. It's a nice component of my repertoire.
This is a solid green tea with a rice and nutty flavor.
Smells a bit like seaweed in the bag, which I found off-putting. However, the smell changes after brewing and the taste is mellow and sweet. It has a pleasantly soft finish unless steeped too hot. In that case it becomes quite bitter, so be careful!
One of my favorite teas. It is very grassy, so if you don't like grassy teas you probably won't like this. It also consists of mainly little twigs with very few leaves (it's supposed to. don't be alarmed). Which I find easier to measure but I know that bothers some.
this a great earthy tea. It is a great balance of being earthy without tasting like grass.
I like the Kukicha as a more traditional asian green tea. It is good iced as well as hot.
It definitely tastes green. I bet it has lots of antioxidants.
Lighter than I expected , but not disappointed . Very nice sweet/nutty aroma and taste. With a light seaweed flavor aftertaste.I'm new to loose leaf and this was my first go at it . I love bagged green tea and decided loose leaf was the next step . Its true what they say loose leaf is a whole new world . Very happy with this tea as my first experience and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a lighter/sweeter cup.
I shouldn't have ordered this, it epitomizes everything I dislike about green teas.
A very distinct green tea in terms of flavor and smell. You will always recognize it as green. Not a favorite of mine because the smell can be off-putting, but it does taste like a good green tea.
This one's interesting, I like to mix it with other teas. I really like how it smells.
Nice little boost before morning meditation. Unique flavor, but I brew mine on the strong side. 2-3 mugs of this each day. It is my normal everyday tea at home and work.
Very 'twiggy' Japanese tea. One of my favorite green teas because of the grassiness and light flavor.
Good for what it is. Not the most complex tea, but a good introduction into green tea.
This is a good everyday tea for me. I like it with just a smidgeon of local honey!
Good price. Good flavor and freshness. Will buy again
The taste is good, but I am having trouble not over-steeping it. It is sweet and grassy, both I like, but tends to be somewhat bitter. I have found however that when mix with flavored greens, it really brings out the flavor well.
Not as dark as other twig teas I've tried. I like mixing it with other toasty teas like genmaicha or hojicha.
I realized after a day or two of having this instead of a stronger tea there is not much caffeine. I don't have more than one or two full strength teas a day, but I can make this in the evening so I'd almost consider it herbal. It's a lot of stems and has some grassy notes, but isn't too strong and is smooth. I'm not a huge fan and have a lot of it left, but I'll probably have it in the evenings for flavor.
I tried this tea as part of the Samurai sampler and it was easily my favorite, followed closely by hojicha. The words I wrote on the sample envelope were 'smooth and refreshing.' Whenever I'm looking for a purely enjoyable drink, this is my go-to tea!
This one is alright. I think I would like it if I added an herbal to it...just not a fan of it alone.
This is now my favorite green tea. The smell and taste comparison to freshly cooked white rice is spot on. The recommendation to blend this one with a little citrus mate also worked out very nicely.
I was reluctant to try after having another company's green teas but never finding the one I like-they were always too grassy for me. This tea is nutty and light. Very relaxing. No grassy flavor.
It's like a mellow sencha. Not quite as grassy and astringent, a little nutty. I like it. Not quite as sencha-y as a sencha, but not drastically different.
I love Kukicha -- the grassy taste typical of Japanese green teas is not quite as pronounced, and the tea is light, relaxed and always feels friendly and uncomplicated!
I love this tea. It's very mild, nutty and sweet. There is some grassiness to it, but not as much as some other Japanese greens. Could easily become an every day tea for me. I would recommend shorter steeps at a lower temperature. Three steeps at 40, 15, and then 30 seconds at 165-170 works perfectly for me.
This tea has a wonderfully light flavor that can stand up to two steepings.
One of my favorites when I'm craving a fresh grassy green tea.
This may be one of my go-to green teas. I like it a lot, I don't add anything to it at all. If there was one tea on Adagio that would represent the smell of freshly cut grass, this would be it.